After nearly a year with Estes Park’s paper of record, Lead Reporter Claire Woodcock has shared she will be leaving the Trail-Gazette. In March, Woodcock starts a new position with the University of Colorado at Boulder as Libraries Communications Specialist for the campus’ handful of libraries.

“Realizing the value of sharing true stories about real people grappling with issues we can all relate to in some way was a transformative moment for me,” Woodcock said.

Before her time at the Trail, Woodcock worked as a broadcast and digital reporter for several radio stations, a copy editor at an alt-weekly and freelanced for a number of music and culture publications. She has had stories published in the Denver Post and air on NPR.

At the paper, she has covered a little bit of everything. She started out covering the Estes Park School Board, Visit Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park and the Stanley Hotel. Over the summer, she kept up the paper’s Trail of the Week section, where she explored park and open space trails and wrote about her adventures and shared videos online.

“Sky Pond was definitely my favorite,” she said. “Park superintendent Darla Sidles recommended that one to me, and it was fabulous. Especially the section where you have to climb up the side of a small waterfall. That was exhilarating.”

In the fall, when she was promoted to the Lead Reporter role, she inherited the Estes Park Town Board and the Estes Valley Planning Commission beats as well. She said that highlights from her time at the Trail-Gazette included editing the Live Well, Get Well Estes Magazine for several features, covering the Shining Ball at the Stanley and then reporting on domestic violence and workers living out of their cars.

“I saw these issues, in particular, being underreported,” she said. “Slipping through the cracks. It frustrated me, so I looked into it.”

In her new role at CU Boulder, she is excited to work with the students, faculty and staff and help share solutions to issues that academic libraries face in the digital era. She said that in college, her favorite place to go was the academic library on campus.

“This is the only position I think I could have accepted at this time where I don’t feel like I’m leaving journalism behind,” she said. “I will be helping other journalists share stories and above all else, my job will be to find creative ways to inspire information literacy.”

In time, Woodcock intends to take classes at the university and work towards a master’s degree and continue to tutor Boulder students on the fundamentals of writing. Woodcock anticipates she will continue to spend days in the park and attend Stanley Live events.

“I will miss working with the folks at the Trail and everyone in the community who trusted me enough to share their stories, on the record or off,” she said. “Thank you for that.”

Tyler Pialet will be moving into the Lead Reporter position and she is confident he will do the community an excellent service. Woodcock’s last day is Feb. 28.

“Claire has been a great journalist for the Trail-Gazette and Estes Park with a passion for the truth that is unmatched,” Trail-Gazette managing editor Zach Clemens said. “She will be missed by all of us, but I am excited for Tyler and think he will be great in his new role.”